FANS of Ricky Hatton will have to wait another fortnight before details of his next fight are announced.

FANS of Ricky Hatton will have to wait another fortnight before details of his next fight are announced.

Hatton's father Ray told the Advertiser that everything has now been arranged for the contest, which looks to be a mandatory defence of his WBA welterweight title against Oktay Urkal, somewhere in America on December 9.

Plans were in place for a fight with Arturo Gatti, but those were ripped up after Gatti's ninth round loss to Carlos Baldomir last weekend.

Hatton senior said: "He'll be fighting in December. We know where it is because the arena's been booked, but I can't say a great deal else because I'd be taking the thunder away from the promoters.

"The promoters are working on what's happening regarding the mandatory fight because they, along with (Hatton's trainer) Billy Graham, are the ones who will decide where we're going.

"There's one or two things that have been offered to us, but things were pointing towards Gatti if he'd won his fight.

"That was obviously a blow because Ricky and Gatti would have been a great spectacle.

"They've both got passionate support, so you can imagine what that would have been like somewhere like Madison Square Garden or Atlantic City - as Barry McGuigan said, it would have been an early Christmas present for everybody."